Hong Kong Takes Flight: Commercial Aviation and the Making of a Global Hub, 1930s-1988
Schedule
Tue Apr 21 2026 at 06:45 pm to 08:30 pm
UTC+08:00Location
Fairmont House, 8 Cotton Tree Drive, Central | Hong Kong, HK
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In this talk, Prof John Wong tells the aviation history of Hong Kong via Hong Kong’s colonial and business history. Putting the history of flight into a wider context, he highlights aviation’s crucial role in forging a new Hong Kong amid rising prosperity and dramatic geopolitical change.Aviation took shape in Hong Kong as the city developed into a powerful economy. Rather than accepting air travel as an inevitability in the era of global mobility, John shows that Hong Kong’s development into a regional and global airline hub was not preordained. By underscoring the shifting process through which this hub emerged, he describes globalisation and global networks in the making.
Viewing the globalisation of the territory through the prism of its airline industry, John examines how policymakers and businesses asserted themselves against international partners and competitors in a bid to accrue socioeconomic benefits, and negotiated their interests in Hong Kong’s economic success.
Starting with aviation’s humble foray into Hong Kong in the 1930s and concluding with the move of the airport from Kai Tak to Chek Lap Kok in 1998, John explores how commercial aviation fashioned regional and global connections against the backdrop of shifting geopolitics and in response to the lift off of Hong Kong’s economic development.
Prof John Wong received his BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Chicago, an MBA from Stanford University, and his PhD in History from Harvard University. Before his academic career, he worked for a number of years in finance and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is currently Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on the flow of people, goods, capital, and ideas. He serves on the editorial board of Business History and is an editor of the Asian Business Histories series at the Hong Kong University Press. He is the author of the books “Global Trade in the Nineteenth Century: The House of Houqua and the Canton System” and “Hong Kong Takes Flight”, as well as numerous articles in academic journals.
Members of the RGS, their guests and others are most welcome to attend this event, which is HK$200 for RGS Members and HK$250 for guests of Members. Drinks will be included before and after the event. This talk is free of charge for student members.
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The opinions expressed in this event are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of the Royal Geographical Society - Hong Kong.
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